Sensex slips over 150 pts, Nifty struggles; Infosys up 1%

Moneycontrol Bureau

9:50 am Market check: The market is slipping away as the Sensex is down 153.77 points or 0.6 percent at 27742.20. The Nifty is down 38.95 points or 0.5 percent at 8359.05. About 723 shares have advanced, 930 shares declined, and 124 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, Vedanta, ICICI Bank, L&T and BHEL are major losers in the Sensex.  

9:45 am Strong guidance for IT: Accenture raised its full-year revenue forecast for the third time, reflecting continued strong demand for the company's consulting and outsourcing services. The company also reported third-quarter profit and revenue above analysts' estimates, helped by growth in its North America business, sending its shares 2.3 percent higher to USD 99.99 in premarket trading.

Accenture raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to 9-10 percent on a local currency basis. In March, the company said it had expected revenue to grow 8-10 percent in the year ending August. Accenture raised its revenue growth forecast to 5-8 percent in December from 4-7 percent. 

9:30 am FII view: In the backdrop of the correction and underperformance of Indian equities over the last quarter, Bharat Iyer of JPMorgan said he re-visited market valuations based on a range of parameters.

“Our key findings are that valuation models based on assets or long-term cash flows suggest a potential upside of 10-13 percent through to the end of the fiscal year.

Don't miss: Accenture raises full-year revenue forecast for 3rd time

The market has opened flat on a fresh start of July F&O series today. The Sensex is up 0.03 points at 27896.00, and the Nifty is down 4.05 points at 8393.95. About 245 shares have advanced, 188 shares declined, and 65 shares are unchanged.

Nifty's recent move is exuding a lot of optimism. Resistance for the 50-share index is seen at 8500. In the June series, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Rs 280 crore while domestic investors sold Rs 8.5 crore in cash market.

Infosys, NTPC, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma and Wipro are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are GAIL, Vedanta, BHEL, Lupin and Axis Bank.

The Indian rupee has opened marginally lower at 63.64 per dollar compared to  63.62 a dollar in previous session. Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity expects rupee to depreciate today as weakness in Asian markets will force local equities to trade low. Also the strength in USD and month-end USD demand from oil importers may keep rupee under pressure, he believes.

According to him, the rupee may move in a range of Rs 63.30-64/USD.

Meanwhile, the euro slipped against the dollar as Greece talks drag on with no resolution in sight.

Asian markets are mixed on dwindling hopes of Greek deal. Japan released a raft of economic data. Japan's core consumer price index ticked up 0.1 percent from a year earlier in may, a tad above expectations.

US stocks closed near session lows, failing to hold initial gains.

Nymex crude slips below USD 60 dollars per barrel weighed by potential negative impact from Greece’s debt crisis on European energy demand. Gold continues to trade around USD 1175 an ounce.